Embroidered panel, Venice, Italy
(made), ca. 1325 (made), The Victoria and Albert Museum (London) ■ This
Venetian embroidered devotional picture of a half-figure of Christ,
incorporates design elements from various cultures and areas. There is a lotus
from the Far East, another lotus and ornamental circles from Islamic
traditions, and from Byzantium, the Christ in the style of a particular
Byzantine dynasty, the Palaeologues. This panel may have been part of a burse,
the bag used for holding linen cloths for the celebration of the Christian
Mass. Venice was one of the few place where craftspeople would combine such an
eclectic mix and this attribution is reinforced by the use of a particular
embroidery stitch, underside couching, which is generally found only in England
and Venice after 1300. This stitch is produced by couching down a metal thread
with silk and pulling the silk through to the back of the work so that it does
not show, leaving an effectively unbroken line of gold on the surface ■
